Content management system and associated methodology

ABSTRACT

A communication system including a first apparatus having a first storage medium, and a second apparatus for transmitting data to the first apparatus. The second apparatus has a second storage medium for storing management information of data to be transferred to the first storage medium, a communicator for communicating data with the first apparatus, an editor capable of editing the management information and a controller for making a control to transfer data stored in the second storage medium to the first storage medium by way of the communicator based on the management information edited by the editor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an information communication system andits method as well as an information communication apparatus and itsmethod, which are used for transmitting a plurality of pieces of datafrom equipment for storing data to other equipment.

As a conventional apparatus, there has been developed the so-called CDchanger for accommodating a number of CDs (Compact Discs) andautomatically playing back the CDs. In such a CD changer, several tensto several hundreds of CDs are accommodated in a single case, and a CDselected by a predetermined operation is automatically played back. Theoperation to play back CDs may be carried out for each selected CD. Asan alternative, a plurality of CDs are selected and the operation toplay back the CDs can be carried out for each of the CDs or carried outrandomly for pieces of music recorded in the CDs. In general, the CDchanger is installed permanently in a room.

As a portable audio-data playback apparatus, on the other hand, anapparatus using an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc with adiameter of about 64 mm has become popular in recent years. The portableaudio-data playback apparatus converts an analog audio signal into adigital signal, compresses the digital signal by adoption of acompression technology known as ATRAC (Adaptive Transform AcousticCoding: Trademark) and stores the compressed signal into amagneto-optical disc. The portable audio-data playback apparatus offersa merit of no deterioration of the sound quality caused by theoperations to convert the analog audio signal into the digital signal,compress the digital signal and store the compressed signal. There isalso another merit of a random playback operation due to the fact that adisc is used as a recording medium.

In the CD changer described above, however, it takes time to replace aCD with another even during an automatic playback operation. It is thusdifficult to implement a continuous playback operation. In addition, aCD changer for accommodating 100 to 200 CDs has a large and heavycabinet, which is very inconvenient when the CD changer is carried orinstalled.

Also in the portable audio-data playback apparatus described above, onceaudio data has been recorded onto a magneto-optical disc, the playbackoperation is limited to the range of the disc. That is to say, a randomor general playback operation can not be carried out over a plurality ofmagneto-optical discs. It is thus necessary to replace a magneto-opticaldisc with several other magneto-optical discs in order to carry out arandom playback operation from a plurality of magneto-optical discs oran operation to play back specified pieces of music. As a result, theuser must always take a plurality of magneto-optical discs or opticaldiscs with the portable audio-data playback apparatus.

In order to solve these problems, for example, there has been proposed amusic server equipped with a recording medium such as a hard-disc drivehaving a relatively small size but a large recording capacity to serveas a CD changer described above. In a music server, audio data is readout from a CD, compressed and coded by adopting a predeterminedtechnique and then recorded and stored in a hard-disc drive. By using ahard-disc drive with a recording capacity of about 6 Gbyte, musical dataof about 1,000 pieces of music can be recorded. In addition, unlike theCD changer, time and labor to replace a CD with another are not requiredin a music server. As a result, the music server offers a merit of aneasy continuous playback operation. Other merits include the fact thatdata of numerous pieces of music can be recorded into a unit ofhard-disc drive and the fact that the cabinet can be made small in size.

It has been further proposed to use a hard-disc drive or a semiconductormemory as a recording or storage medium in the portable audio-dataplayback apparatus described above. The music server described above maybe connected to the portable audio-data playback apparatus so that audiodata stored in the music server can be transferred to the portableaudio-data playback apparatus to be recorded or stored into therecording medium of the apparatus. Assume that the recording or storagecapacity of the recording medium is 200 MB. In this case, it is nolonger necessary for the user to carry a plurality of magneto-opticaldiscs or optical discs. Of course, it is also unnecessary to replace amagneto-optical disc or an optical disc with another.

By the way, a music server is capable of storing a large amount ofmusical data as described above. Thus, if musical data is transferredfrom the music server to the portable audio-data playback apparatus byselecting pieces of music thereof to be transferred piece by piece,there will be raised a problem of cumbersome work to repeat the sameoperation several times.

In order to solve this problem, there has been conceived a data transfermethod whereby a list of selected pieces of music from the musical datastored in the music server is created and the selected musical data onthe list is transferred in a batch operation. With this method, however,there is raised another problem that it is quite within the bounds ofpossibility that a confusion occurs due to an unclear purpose as towhether a list created by the user is used to organize numerous piecesof musical data stored in the music server or used to transfer pieces ofmusical data in a batch operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an informationcommunication system and its method as well as an informationcommunication apparatus and its method that are capable of transferringmusical data from an audio server to a portable audio-data playbackapparatus with ease.

In order to solve the problems described above, according to the firstaspect of the present invention, there is provided a communicationsystem including a first apparatus having a first storage medium, and asecond apparatus for transmitting data to the first apparatus, thesecond apparatus comprising: a second storage medium for storingmanagement information of data to be transferred to the first storagemedium; communication means for communicating data with the firstapparatus; edit means capable of editing the management information; andcontrol means for making a control to transfer data stored in the secondstorage medium to the first storage medium by way of the communicationmeans on the basis of the management information edited by the editmeans.

In addition, according to the second aspect of the present invention,there is provided a communication apparatus for transmitting data toanother apparatus having a first storage medium, comprising: a secondstorage medium for storing management information of data stored in thefirst storage medium; communication means for communicating data withthe another apparatus; edit means capable of editing the managementinformation; and control means for making a control to transfer datastored in the second storage medium to the first storage medium by wayof the communication means on the basis of the management informationedited by the edit means.

Furthermore, according to the third aspect of the present invention,there is provided a communication method for communicating a firstapparatus having a first storage medium to a second apparatus fortransmitting data to the first apparatus, the method comprising thesteps of: editing management information of data to be transferred tothe first apparatus, on the second storage medium of the secondapparatus, irrespective of the fact whether or not communication isestablished between the first apparatus and the second apparatus; andtransmitting, when communication is established between the firstapparatus and the second apparatus, data stored in the second storagemedium to the first storage medium on the basis of the edited managementinformation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a music server provided by the presentinvention and a system employing the music server in a simple and plainmanner;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of the musicsever;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of a signal through a series ofprocesses from an operation to read out musical data from a CD-ROM driveto an operation to record the data into a hard-disc drive in a simpleand plain manner;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of a signal through a series ofprocesses from an operation to read out compressed musical data from thehard-disc drive to an operation to output data completing playbackprocessing to a terminal in a simple and plain manner;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of a portablerecording and playback apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another typical configuration of aportable recording and playback apparatus;

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart representing typical processing carried out bya music server to record musical data read out from a CD into ahard-disc drive;

FIG. 8A shows a flowchart representing typical processes of a musicserver for processing to record musical data read out from a CD into ahard-disc drive at a high speed;

FIG. 8B shows a flowchart representing typical processes of an Internetserver for processing to record musical data read out from a CD into ahard-disc drive at a high speed;

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart representing typical processing to move musicaldata in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a typical edit screen for editing atransfer list in a simple and plain manner;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a typical external view of the music serverin a simple and plain manner;

FIG. 12A is a diagram conceptually showing a typical management methodfor controlling a list of programs on the program file;

FIG. 12B is a diagram conceptually showing a typical management methodfor controlling a list of programs on the memory; and

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart representing typical processing to edit atransfer list and to transfer musical data cataloged on the editedtransfer list.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention are explained byreferring to diagrams. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a music serverprovided by the present invention and a system employing the musicserver in a simple and plain manner. As shown in the figure, the musicserver 50 comprises a server main body 51 and speaker units 52L and 52R.The server main body 51 is provided with a display unit 53 implementedtypically by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel and a CD insertionunit 54 for inserting a CD 55 into the server main body 51.

The server main body 51 has an operation unit comprising a plurality ofoperation switches to be operated by the user for executing functions ofthe server main body 51. It should be noted that the operation unititself is not shown in FIG. 1. The server main body 51 may also beprovided with a signal reception unit for receiving typically aninfrared signal from a remote commander, which is operated to remotelyexecute the functions of the server main body 51. As will be describedlater, the server main body 51 also includes a controller forcontrolling a variety of operations by execution of a predeterminedprogram, which is stored in advance typically in a ROM.

The user mounts a CD 55 on the server main body 51 through the CDinsertion unit 54 and operates a predetermined switch on the operationunit not shown in the figure to play back musical data from the CD 55. Aplayback signal reproduced from the CD 55 is output to the speaker units52L and 52R to allow the user to enjoy the musical data stored in the CD55. If the CD 55 includes text data such as the name of a piece ofmusic, the text data can be displayed on the display unit 53 as names ofpieces of music or the like.

The music server 50 includes an internal large-capacity recording mediumsuch as a hard disc. By operating a predetermined switch on theoperation unit not shown in the figure, it is possible to recordplayback data reproduced from the CD 55 mounted on the server main body51 through the CD insertion unit 54 into the recording medium such as ahard disc. At that time, it is possible to select a standard-speedrecording technique or a high-speed recording technique. With thestandard-speed recording technique, the playback data is recorded fromthe CD 55 into the recording medium at a transfer speed equal to astandard playback speed of the CD 55. With the high-speed recordingtechnique, on the other hand, the playback data is recorded from the CD55 into the recording medium at a transfer speed higher than thestandard playback speed of the CD 55. With the high-speed recordingtechnique, playback data reproduced from a selected CD 55 or playbackdata of a selected piece of music reproduced from the CD 55 is recordedfrom the CD 55 into the recording medium at a transfer speed higher thanthe standard playback speed of the CD 55 at a fee determined by acharging process according to a predetermined procedure.

In the music server 50, musical data played back from the CD 55 issubjected to a compression-encoding process according to a predeterminedtechnique such as the ATRAC method described earlier to producecompressed musical data, which is then recorded into the recordingmedium such as a hard disc. In the case of a hard disc with a storagecapacity of 6 Gbyte, for example, about 1,000 pieces of music can bestored or recorded. A list of names of recorded or stored pieces ofmusic is displayed typically on the display unit 53. The user is thencapable of playing back any arbitrary piece of music selected from thelist displayed on the display unit 53 to show the names of pieces ofmusic recorded or stored in the hard disc. As hard disc can be accessedat random, a large amount of musical data stored and recorded can beread out in arbitrary order and continuously played back by the musicserver 50.

There are a variety of usable compression-encoding techniques. Thisembodiment adopts a technique referred to as an ATRAC2 (AdaptiveTransform Acoustic Coding 2) method disclosed in documents such as USP(United States Patent) U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,821. This method is acompression-encoding technique resulting from extension of the ATRACmethod adopted in the portable audio-data playback apparatus describedabove. This technique of compressing and encoding data makes use offrequency dependence of a minimum audible limit as well as a maskingeffect based on the sense of hearing, and utilizes a conversion-codingprocess in conjunction with an entropy-coding process. With this ATRAC2method, encoding and decoding processes can be carried out at a highspeed while a high sound quality is being maintained by using hardwarewith a relatively small size. It should be noted that, however,compression-encoding techniques other than ATRAC2, may be adopted suchas ATRAC3, MPEG2ACC (Advanced Audio Code), MP3 (MPEG1 Audio Layer 3),TwinVQ (Transform-Domain weighted Interleave Vector Quantization) orMSAudio (WMA: Windows Media Audio).

The music server 50 can be connected to an external system by typicallya public telephone line serving as a communication line 61 shown inFIG. 1. An example of the external system is an Internet server 60,which is a server connected to the Internet. By connecting the musicserver 50 to the Internet server 60 using the communication line 61,various kinds of information can be acquired from the Internet. TheInternet server 60 has a data base for storing data such as informationon titles of musical CDs available in the market. A unique key formaking an access to the data base is assigned to the user. In order tomake an access to the data base, the user utilizes the unique key. Inthis way, the user is capable of acquiring data related to a musical CDsuch as information on the title of the CD.

The Internet server 60 also carries out a charging process to compute afee for a service rendered to the user of the music server 50. Whenmusical data played back from the CD 55 is recorded into recordingmedium at a high transfer speed as described above, the music server 50informs the Internet server 60 that such a recording operation iscarried out at a high transfer speed. The Internet server 60 thencarries out processing to compute a recording fee to be charged to theuser, allowing a CD to be selected or a piece of music to be selectedfrom a CD and musical data to be recorded from the selected CD or theselected piece of music to be recorded from the CD at a high transferspeed.

As described above, the processing to compute a recording fee is carriedout by the Internet server 60, which has a lot of information related toCDs. It should be noted, however, that the scope of the presentinvention is not limited to this scheme. For example, the processing tocompute a recording fee can also be carried out by another server, whichis also connected to the Internet. As another alternative, theprocessing to compute a recording fee can also be carried out through aspecial-purpose network other than the Internet.

A portable recording and playback apparatus 70 has a recording medium,which is implemented by a hard disc or a flash memory such as asemiconductor memory, a magnetic memory and an optical memory. Theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 may also be provided withanother kind of storage medium or another kind of recording mediumprovided that the medium is capable of keeping up with a speed to playback music. By connecting the portable recording and playback apparatus70 to the music server 50 using a connection line 71, musical datarecorded in the music server 50 can be transmitted to the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 to be recorded in a storage mediumemployed in the portable recording and playback apparatus 70. In thiscase, while the musical data transmitted to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 remains in the storage medium such as a hard discor a flash memory in the music server 50, the musical data is put in astate of being irreproducible. The storage medium employed in theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 has a typical capacity ofabout 200 Mbyte, which allows data of tens of pieces of music to bestored or recorded. It should be noted that a storage device or arecording medium implemented by a semiconductor memory such as a flashmemory and a recording medium implemented by a disc-shaped recordingmedium such as a hard disc are referred to as a storage medium, which isa generic name for these storage and recording media.

In accordance with the aforementioned transmission method adopted by thepresent invention, transmitted musical data is recorded into a storagemedium employed in a destination of transmission and remains in astorage medium of a source of transmission but is put in a state ofbeing irreproducible. This transmission operation is referred to as amove. By moving musical data in this way, a copy operation of musicaldata can be prevented from being carried out without limitation.

In the embodiment described above, the music server 50 is connected tothe portable recording and playback apparatus 70 by the connection line71. It should be noted, however, that this configuration is typical. Asan alternative, the music server 50 is provided with a mounting unitmatching another mounting unit employed in the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70. In accordance with this alternative, the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 can be mounted on the music server50 so that data can be exchanged between the music server 50 and theportable recording and playback apparatus 70. In addition to theelectrical connections, the music server 50 can be provided with aninterface unit matching another interface unit employed in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70. The interface units conform totypically an IrDA (Infrared Data Association) standard, which allowsdata to be exchanged between the interface units as an infrared raysignal. As a result, musical data can be exchanged between the musicserver 50 and the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 as aninfrared ray signal.

The music server 50 may further be provided with a predeterminedinterface for exchanging information with a variety of media. Assumethat the music server 50 is provided with an interface for a PC card 80.In this case, musical data distributed by means of the PC card 80 can betransferred to the music server 50, or data can be exchanged between apersonal computer and the music server 50. The music server 50 may beprovided with a serial digital interface implemented by an opticalcable, which allows musical data to be exchanged with another digitalmusical-data recording and playback apparatus such as a disc recorder 81for handling typically a small-size magneto-optical disc having adiameter of 64 mm. In this embodiment, a disc cartridge 82 foraccommodating the small-size magneto-optical disc is mounted on the discrecorder 81. Musical data played back from the magneto-optical discaccommodated in the disc cartridge 82 is supplied to the music server50. By the same token, the music server 50 may be provided with aninterface such as an IEEE1394 interface for connection to a setup box 83for CATV (cable television) or satellite broadcasting.

A PC card conforms to standardization of card-type peripherals forpersonal computers. The standardization is set jointly by the PCMCIA(Personal Memory Card International Association) of the U.S. and theJEIDA (Japanese Electronic Industry Development Association) of Japan.The IEEE1394 standard is an interface standard adopted by the Instituteof Electrical and Electronic Engineers of the U.S.

The music server 50 may be provided with a WWW (World Wide Web) browseras an embedded application. By connecting the music server 50 providedwith a WWW browser to the Internet server 60 using the communicationline 61, the Internet can be searched for a variety of contentsdescribed typically in an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and any ofthe contents can then be displayed on the display unit 53.

With the configuration described above, the user is capable of playingback musical data stored or recorded in the music server 50 or musicaldata from the CD 55 mounted on the music server 50 via the CD insertionunit 54 and listening to the reproduced musical data through the speakerunits 52L and 52R.

By a communication between the music server 50 and the Internet server60, the music server 50 can automatically acquire information such asthe title of a CD 55 mounted on the music server 50 via the CD insertionunit 54 from the Internet server 60 through the communication line 61.Information such as a CD title acquired from the Internet server 60 issaved in the music server 50 and the saved information is displayed onthe display unit 53 employed in the music server 50 when necessary.

To put it concretely, the music server 50 first transmits informationunique to the user such as user ID data of the music server 50 to theInternet server 60. The information unique to the user is referred tohereafter as user information. The Internet server 60 carries outauthentication and charging based on the user information received fromthe music server 50. The Internet server 60 also receives mediainformation of a CD desired by the user or a CD being played back fromthe music server 50. The Internet server 60 then searches a data basefor additional information associated with musical data indicated by themedia information. The additional information includes the title of asong, the name of a performer, a song composer, a libretto writer, alibretto and a jacket image. Then, the Internet server 60 transmitspredetermined information on the CD requested by the user.

An example of the media information transmitted to the Internet server60 is of a TOC (Table of Contents) of the CD 55. The Internet server 60includes the data base, which can be searched for additional informationassociated with musical data indicated by the TOC. As an alternative,the Internet can also be searched for a WWW server to get additionalinformation by the Internet server 60. The Internet server 60 searchesthe data base for additional information associated with musical dataindicated by the TOC received from the music server 50 and used as themedia information. For example, the Internet server 60 searches the database for a playback time duration of each piece of music, which isincluded in the TOC and recorded on the CD 55.

The Internet server 60 then transmits the additional informationobtained as a result of the search operation to the music server 50. Themusic server 50 displays the additional information received from theInternet server 60 on the display unit 53. The additional information isalso stored by a CPU 8 to be described later into typically thehard-disc drive along with the TOC information of the CD 55. It shouldbe noted that the additional information can also be transmitted by theInternet server 60 as data embedded in an HTML file and displayed by WWWbrowser software embedded in the music server 50.

If the additional information includes another described URL (UniformResource Locator) on the Internet, the music server 50 is capable ofmaking an access to a home page on the Internet indicated by the otherURL.

In addition, by having data communicated between the Internet server 60and the music server 50, musical data recorded on the CD 55 mounted onthe music server 50 through the CD insertion unit 54 can be recordedinto the recording medium employed in the music server 50 at a speedhigher than a standard playback speed prescribed for the CD 55 so thattypically musical data of a piece of CD 55 can be recorded in about 2minutes by the music server 50. If no communication is establishedbetween the Internet server 60 and the music server 50, on the otherhand, the musical data is recorded into the recording medium employed inthe music server 50 at a one-time speed, that is, a speed equal to thestandard playback speed prescribed for the CD 55 by the music server 50.

By connecting the music server 50 to the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 using a connection line 71, musical data stored or recordedin the music server 50 can be transmitted or, strictly speaking, movedto the portable recording and playback apparatus 71. The moved data canthen be played back by the portable recording and playback apparatus 70even if the music server 50 is disconnected from the portable recordingand playback apparatus 71 via the connection line 71. Typically, theuser is capable of listening to the musical data played back by theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 by using a headphone 72. Asdescribed earlier, the musical data transmitted or, strictly speaking,moved to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 can no longerbe played back in the music server 50.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of the musicserver 50. In the first place, the music server 50 comprises a RAM 5, aROM 6, a flash memory 7 and a CPU 8, which are connected to each otherby a local bus as is the case with an ordinary personal computer. TheCPU 8 is also connected to a bus 40. The CPU 8 functions as a controllercontrolling all operations of the music server 50.

The ROM 6 is used for storing in advance a program for controlling theoperation of the music server 50. The program is executed by the CPU 8to perform processing corresponding to an operation carried out on aninput operation unit 1 to be described later. A task area and a dataarea, which are required in the execution of the program, are securedtemporarily in the RAM 5 and the flash memory 7. The ROM 6 is also usedfor storing a program loader for loading the program from the ROM 6 intothe flash memory 7.

The input operation unit 1 comprises typically a plurality of push-typeand rotary-type operation keys and switches each actuated by anoperation of any of these operation keys. As an alternative, the inputoperation unit 1 may also be implemented by a rotary-push-type key knownas a jog dial or a touch panel on the LCD. Of course, the inputoperation unit 1 may adopt a switch mechanism, which reacts to a pressoperation. A signal representing an operation carried out on the inputoperation unit 1 is supplied to the CPU 8 by way of the bus 40. The CPU8 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the musicserver 50 on the basis of the signal received from the input operationunit 1. The music server 50 operates in accordance with the controlsignal generated by the CPU 8.

An infrared ray interface (IrDa I/F) driver 3 and/or a USB (UniversalSerial Bus) drive 4 are connected to the bus 40. A keyboard 2 isconstructed to be capable of communicating with the IrDa I/F driver 3and the USB driver 4 or can be connected to the IrDa I/F driver 3 andthe USB driver 4. By using the keyboard 2, the user can enterinformation such as the title of recorded musical data and the name ofan artist with ease. It is also possible to adopt a configurationwherein data is transferred by way of the IrDa I/F driver 3 or the USBdriver 4. It should be noted that the IrDa I/F driver 3 and the USBdriver 4 could be eliminated.

A CD-ROM drive 9 is connected to the bus 40. A CD 55 inserted into theCD insertion unit 54 as described earlier is mounted on the CD-ROM drive9. The CD-ROM drive 9 reads out musical data from the set CD 55 at aprescribed standard playback speed. The CD-ROM drive 9 is also capableof reading musical data from the CD 55 at a speed higher than theprescribed standard playback speed such as a speed 16 times or 32 timesthe prescribed standard playback speed.

It should be noted that the CD-ROM drive 9 is not limited to the exampledescribed above. For example, the CD-ROM drive 9 can be adapted toanother disc-shaped recording medium for recording musical data.Examples of the other disc-shaped recording medium are a magneto-opticaldisc and a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). A drive for a memory card canalso be employed. In addition, data read out by the CD-ROM drive 9 isnot limited to musical data. It is also possible for the CD-ROM drive 9to read out information such as picture data, text data and programdata.

A hard-disc drive 10, which is abbreviated hereafter to an HDD, is alsoconnected to the bus 40. Musical data read out by the CD-ROM drive 9 isrecorded into the HDD 10. Before being recorded into the HDD 10, themusical data is subjected to pre-processing. To put it in detail, themusical data read out by the CD-ROM drive 9 is supplied to a compressionencoder 12 by way of the bus 40 and an audio DRAM 11.

The compression encoder 12 carries out processing to compress and encodemusical data typically by adoption of the compression method disclosedin U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,821 described earlier. It should be noted thatmusical data could be compressed by the compression encoder 12 at eitherone of 2 speeds, namely, a low speed and a high speed, either of whichis selected in accordance with control executed by the CPU 8. The lowcompression speed corresponds to the standard playback speed prescribedfor the CD 55 in the CD-ROM drive 9. Typically, the compression speed isswitched from the low speed to the high one and vice versa in accordancewith the playback speed of the CD 55 in the CD-ROM drive 9. Thecompression encoder 12 implements an encoding algorithm according to thecompression speed.

It should be noted that the technique adopted by the compression encoder12 to change the compression speed is not limited to the methoddescribed above. For example, the compression speed can also be changedby switching the clock frequency of the compression encoder 12. As analternative, the two compression speeds are implemented by two differentpieces of hardware. As another alternative, musical data is compressedby the compression encoder 12 at the low processing speed by thinningthe high-speed compression.

The musical data completing the compression-encoding process in thecompression encoder 12 is supplied to the HDD 10 by way of the DRAM 11to be stored or recorded in the HDD 10.

As described above, the musical data completing the compression-encodingprocess in the compression encoder 12 is supplied to the HDD 10 to bestored or recorded therein. It should be noted, however, that musicaldata read out by the CD-ROM drive 9 can also be supplied directly to theHDD 10 to be stored or recorded onto a hard disc of the HDD 10.

In this embodiment, an audio signal supplied by a microphone connectedto a terminal 13 by way of an amplifier 14 or an audio signal input froma line input terminal 15 is supplied to the compression encoder 12 byway of an A/D converter 16. The audio signal compressed and encoded bythe compression encoder 12 can be recorded in the HDD 10. In addition,an optical digital signal from an optical digital input terminal 17 isalso supplied to the compression encoder 12 by way of an IEC-958(International Electrotechnical Commission 958) encoder 18. The opticaldigital signal, which is also an audio signal, is compressed and encodedby the compression encoder 12. The compressed and encoded audio signalcan be recorded onto the hard disc of the HDD 10.

In the embodiment described above, the compression encoder 12 adopts anencoding algorithm like the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,821. Itshould be noted, however, that the scope of the present invention is notlimited to this embodiment. That is to say, the compression encoder 12may adopt another algorithm as long as the algorithm is an encodingalgorithm for compressing information. The compression encoder 12 mayadopt, other than the algorithm mentioned above, PASC (PrecisionAdaptive Sub-band Coding), RealAudio (a trademark) or LiquidAudio (atrademark) algorithm.

A modem 20 is also connected to the bus 40. The modem 20 is connected toan external network 19 such as a public telephone line, a CATV, asatellite communication network or wireless communication. The musicserver 50 is capable of establishing communication through the externalnetwork 19 by way of the modem 20.

Connected typically to the Internet by the external network 19, themusic server 50 is capable of communicating with the Internet server 60at a remote location. The music server 50 transmits various kinds ofinformation to the Internet server 60. The information includes arequest signal, media information, user ID data, user information andcharging information for the user. The media information is data relatedto the CD 55 mounted on the CD-ROM drive 9. The user ID data and theuser information are assigned in advance to the music server 50.

As described above, various kinds of data including the mediainformation and the user information are transmitted to the Internetserver 60. On the basis of the user information such as the user ID datareceived from the music server 50, the Internet server 60 carries outauthentication of the user and a charging process for the user. TheInternet server 60 also searches a data base for additional informationfor musical data indicated by the media information received from themusic server 50. The additional information is then transmitted to themusic server 50.

As described above, additional information associated with musical datais transmitted to the music server 50. It should be noted, however, thatmusical data itself could also be supplied directly to the music server50 from the external network 19. In other words, the user is capable ofdownloading musical data from the Internet server 60 to the music server50. That is to say, musical data is transmitted to the music server 50in response to media information. For example, a bonus track of apredetermined CD 55 can be distributed to users.

In a playback operation, musical data compressed and encoded by thecompression encoder 12 and then recorded and stored in the HDD 10 isread out from the HDD 10 and supplied to a compression decoder 21 by wayof the bus 40. The compression decoder 21 decodes and decompresses thecompressed musical data read out from the HDD 10. The decoded anddecompressed musical data is then supplied to a D/A converter 22 beforebeing supplied to a terminal 24 by way of an amplifier 23. The data isthen supplied to the speaker units 52L and 52R from the terminal 24 asmusic obtained as a result of the playback operation. It should be notedthat, in the case of a stereo system which is not shown in FIG. 2, thereare two routes from the D/A converter 22 to the terminal 24 by way ofthe amplifier 23. Of course, two terminals 24 are provided in the stereosystem.

The compression decoder 21 adopts a decoding algorithm serving as acounterpart of the encoding algorithm adopted in the compression encoder12. The compression encoder 12 and the compression decoder 21 can alsobe implemented by software executed by the CPU 8 instead of hardware.

A liquid crystal display panel 26, which is abbreviated to an LCD panelserving as the display unit 53, is connected to the bus 40 by an LCDdriving circuit 25. The CPU 8 supplies a rendering control signal to theLCD driving circuit 25 by way of the bus 40. The LCD driving circuit 25drives the LCD panel 26 in accordance with the rendering control signalreceived from the CPU 8 to make a predetermined display appear on thedisplay unit 53.

For example, an operation menu of the music server 50 is displayed onthe LCD panel 26. As another example, a list of titles of compressedmusical data recorded and stored in the HDD 10 may also be displayed onthe LCD panel 26. The list of titles displayed on the LCD panel 26 isbased on data stored in the HDD 10. This stored data is based on dataobtained as a result of decoding additional information received fromthe Internet server 60. In addition, a folder and a jacket imageassociated with selected playback compressed musical data may also bedisplayed on the LCD panel 26. The displayed folder and the jacket imageare based on additional information received from the Internet server60.

The user operates the keyboard 2 or a pointing device of the inputoperation unit 1 on the basis of a screen displayed on the LCD panel 26.The CPU 8 controls processing to play back musical data requested by anoperation carried out by the user on the keyboard 2 or the pointingdevice of the input operation unit 1. Control of an operation to deleteselected musical data and an operation to copy or move selected musicaldata to an external apparatus can also be based on a screen displayed onthe LCD panel 26. For example, the input operation unit 1 may beimplemented by a touch panel provided on the LCD panel 26. In this case,by touching the touch panel in accordance with a screen displayed on theLCD panel 26, the user is capable of operating the music server 50. Inthis way, the user is capable of administering and controlling musicaldata stored or recorded in the HDD 10 by using the LCD panel 26 as aninterface.

In the first embodiment, a PC-card slot 31 and an IEEE1394 interface 8are each used as an interface between the music server 50 and anexternal general information apparatus. The IEEE1394 interface 28 isconnected to the bus 40 by an IEEE1394 driver 29. On the other hand, thePC-card slot 31 is connected to the bus 40 by a PC-card driver 30.

The IEEE1394 interface 28 allows data to be exchanged between the musicserver 50 and typically a personal computer. In addition, the EEE1394interface 28 allows musical data to be input from a source such as asatellite-broadcasting IRD (Integrated Receiver/Decoder), a small-sizeoptical disc and a small-size magneto-optical disc with a diameter ofabout 64 mm, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc: a trademark) or a digitalvideo tape. A PC card mounted on the PC-card slot 31 serves as one of avariety of peripheral extensions such as an external memory device,another media drive, a modem, a terminal adaptor and a capture board.

An interface 34 allows musical data to be exchanged between the musicserver 50 and another compatible recording and playback apparatus. Theother recording and playback apparatus can be the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 1 or another music server 50.

The interface 34 is connected to the bus 40 by an interface driver 33.The other compatible recording and playback apparatus includes aninterface 35 as the counterpart of the interface 34. By electricallyconnecting the interface 34 to the interface 35 by using a predeterminedconnection line 71, for example, the music server 50 is capable oftransmitting musical data stored in the HDD 10 to the other recordingand playback apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of a signal through a series ofprocesses from an operation to read out musical data from the CD-ROMdrive 9 to an operation to record the data into the HDD 10 in a simpleand plain manner. The musical data read out from the CD-ROM drive 9 isonce stored into the DRAM 11, which is used as a buffer memory. Themusical data is then read out back from the DRAM 11 with a predeterminedtiming and supplied to the compression encoder 12 by way of the bus 40.As described above, the compression encoder 12 compresses the musicaldata at a predetermined compression speed corresponding to the playbackspeed of the CD-ROM drive 9. The musical data compressed and encoded bythe compression encoder 12 is again stored temporarily into the DRAM 11,which is used as a buffer memory. The musical data is then read out backfrom the DRAM 11 with a predetermined timing and supplied by way of thebus 40 to the HDD 10 to be stored into the hard disc of the HDD 10. Atthat time, information on the CD 55 undergoing a playback operation inthe CD-ROM drive 9 is transmitted to the Internet server 60. In responseto the information, the Internet server 60 transmits additionalinformation for the CD 55, which is also recorded into the hard disc ofthe HDD 10. The CPU 8 and other components control the additionalinformation and the compressed musical data obtained as a result ofcompression of the musical data read out from the CD 55 as describedabove.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of a signal through a series ofprocesses from an operation to read out compressed musical data from theHDD 10 to an operation to output data completing playback processing toa terminal 24 in a simple and plain manner. The compressed musical dataread out from the HDD 10 is once stored into the DRAM 11, which is usedas a buffer memory. The compressed musical data is then read out backfrom the DRAM 11 with a predetermined timing and supplied to thecompression decoder 21 by way of the bus 40. As described above, thecompression decoder 21 decodes and decompresses the compressed musicaldata to reproduce the musical data, supplying the musical data to a D/Aconverter 22. The D/A converter 22 converts the musical data into ananalog audio signal, which is amplified by an amplifier 23 and output tothe terminal 24 as a playback output. If a speaker is connected to theterminal 24, the user is capable of enjoying music played back by thespeaker. At that time, additional information read out along with thecompressed musical data from the HDD 10 is decoded by the CPU 8 andother components to be displayed on the display unit 53 as a musicalname and the like.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of theportable recording and playback apparatus 70. As shown in the figure,the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 generally has aconfiguration similar to that of the music server 50 shown in FIG. 2.Normally, the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 is carried bythe user and used as standalone equipment by disconnecting the interface35 of the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 from theinterface 34 employed in the music server 50.

In the first place, the portable recording and playback apparatus 70comprises a RAM 103, a ROM 104, and a CPU 105, which are connected toeach other by a local bus as is the case with an ordinary personalcomputer. Of course, a flash memory can also be provided like theconfiguration of the music server 50 described above. The CPU 105 isalso connected to a bus 130. The CPU 105 functions as a controllercontrolling all operations of the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70.

The ROM 104 is used for storing in advance a program for controlling theoperation of the music apparatus 70. The program is executed to performprocessing corresponding to an operation carried out on an inputoperation unit 102 to be described later. A task area and a data area,which are required in the execution of the program, are securedtemporarily in the RAM 103.

The input operation unit 102 comprises typically a plurality ofpush-type and rotary-type operation keys and switches each actuated byan operation of any of these operation keys. As an alternative, theinput operation unit 102 may also be implemented by a rotary-push-typekey known as a jog dial or a touch panel on the LCD. Of course, theinput operation unit 102 may adopt a mechanical switch mechanism, whichreacts to a press operation. A signal representing an operation carriedout on the input operation unit 102 is supplied to the CPU 105 by way ofthe bus 130. The CPU 105 generates a control signal for controlling theoperation of the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 on thebasis of the signal received from the input operation unit 102. Thesignal is generated by the input operation unit 102 to represent anoperation carried out on an operation key of the input operation unit102. The operation of the portable recording and playback apparatus 70is switched and controlled in accordance with the control signalgenerated by the CPU 105.

Musical data read out from the HDD 10 of the music server 50 to betransferred to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 inresponse to a request is transmitted or supplied to the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 by way of the interface 35, theconnection line connecting the interface 35 to the interface 34 and theinterface 34. At the same time, additional information associated withthe musical data requested to be transferred is transmitted to theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 along with the musicaldata. If the music server 50 is provided with a mounting unit matchinganother mounting unit employed in the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70, the interface 35 can be directly connected to theinterface 34 so that data can be exchanged between the music server 50and the portable recording and playback apparatus 70. As an alternative,the music server 50 may be provided with an interface unit matchinganother interface unit employed in the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70. If the interface units conform to typically an IrDA(Infrared Data Association) system, which allows data to be exchangedbetween the interface units as an infrared ray signal, musical data canbe exchanged between the music server 50 and the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 as an infrared ray signal.

The musical data supplied by the music server 50 to the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 is transferred from an interfacedriver 101 by way of the bus 130 to an HDD 106, which serves as amusical-data recording medium in the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 to be recorded into a hard disc in the HDD 106.

It should be noted that the musical-data recording medium in theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 is not limited to the HDD106. For example, a flash memory can also be used. As a matter of fact,for example, another recording medium such as a magneto-optical disc canbe employed as the musical-data recording medium in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 provided that the recording mediumis capable of keeping up with the speed to play back the musical data.If a recoding medium with a storage capacity of, say, 200 Mbyte isemployed as the musical-data recording medium in the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70, the recording medium will be capable ofrecording tens of pieces of music. The hard disc of the HDD 106 employedin the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 is used for storingmusical data and additional information associated with the musicaldata, which are received from the music server 50.

In this example, musical data received from the music server 50 andrecorded into the HDD 106 is compressed musical data already completinga compression/encoding process in the music server 50. It should benoted, however, that the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 isnot limited to this embodiment. That is to say, musical data notcompleting a compression/encoding process can also be recorded into thehard disc of the HDD 106. For example, musical data read out from the CD55 mounted on the CD-ROM drive 9 employed in the music server 50 can besupplied to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 by way ofan interface driver 101. It is worth noting, however, that when musicaldata is supplied to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70directly, the number of pieces of musical data that can be recorded islimited considerably.

As part of pre-processing prior to an operation to record musical datainto the hard disc of the HDD 106, the musical data supplied thereto istemporarily stored into an audio DRAM 107 connected to the bus 130. Themusical data is then read back from the DRAM 107 and supplied to acompression encoder 108 through the bus 130. The compression encoder 108carries out a compression-encoding process on the musical data byadoption of an encoding algorithm equivalent to the encoding algorithmadopted by the compression encoder 12 employed in the music server 50.The compressed musical data completing the compression-encoding processin the compression encoder 108 is again supplied to the DRAM 107 to bestored temporarily therein once more. Finally, the compressed musicaldata is read out from the DRAM 107 and recorded into the hard disc ofthe HDD 106.

As described above, a request can be made to move compressed musicaldata stored in the HDD 10 employed in the music server 50 to theportable recording and playback apparatus 70. After the compressedmusical data is transmitted or transferred to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 at such a request, the compressed musical data inthe HDD 10 remains as data that can not be read out and played back fromthe HDD 10. However, the compressed musical data moved to the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 can be returned back to therecording medium serving as a move source, that is, the HDD 10 employedin the music server 50. The compressed musical data returned back to themove source can be played back by the music server 50. When thecompressed musical data is returned back to the music server 50, thecompressed musical data is deleted from the hard disc of the HDD 106employed in the portable recording and playback apparatus 70, whichserves as a move destination. That is to say, the compressed musicaldata returned back to the music server 50 is erased from a recordingmedium of the move destination.

In this embodiment, an audio signal supplied by a microphone connectedto a terminal 109 by way of an amplifier 110 or an audio signal inputfrom a line input terminal 111 is supplied to the compression encoder108 by way of an A/D converter 112. The audio signal output by the A/Dconverter 112, and compressed and encoded by the compression encoder 108can be recorded in the HDD 106. In addition, an optical digital signalfrom an optical digital input terminal 113 is also supplied to thecompression encoder 108 by way of an IEC-958 (InternationalElectrotechnical Commission 958) encoder 114. The optical digitalsignal, which is also an audio signal, is compressed and encoded by thecompression encoder 108. The compressed and encoded audio signal can berecorded onto the hard disc of the HDD 106. If the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70 is a portable playback-only apparatus only forplaying back musical data, recording components such as the A/Dconverter 112 and the compression encoder 108 can all be eliminated.

In a playback operation, the compressed musical data is read out fromthe HDD 106 and supplied to a compression decoder 115 by way of the bus130. The compression decoder 115 decodes and decompresses the compressedmusical data read out from the HDD 106. The decoded and decompressedmusical data is then supplied to a D/A converter 116 before beingsupplied to a terminal 118 by way of an amplifier 117. By mounting aheadphone 72 on the terminal 118, the user is capable of enjoying thereproduced music. It should be noted that, in the case of a stereosystem which is not shown in FIG. 5, there are provided two routes fromthe D/A converter 116 to the terminal 118 by way of the amplifier 117for left and right (L and R) channels respectively. Of course, twoterminals 118 are provided in the stereo system for the L and R channelsrespectively.

An LCD panel 120 is connected to the bus 130 by an LCD driving circuit119. The CPU 105 supplies a rendering control signal to the LCD drivingcircuit 119 by way of the bus 130. The LCD driving circuit 119 drivesthe LCD panel 120 in accordance with the rendering control signalreceived from the CPU 105 to make a predetermined display appear on theLCD panel 120. For example, an operation menu of the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70 is displayed on the LCD panel 120. As anotherexample, a list of titles of compressed musical data recorded and storedin the HDD 106 may also be displayed on the LCD panel 120. In addition,a folder and a jacket image associated with selected playback compressedmusical data may also be displayed on the LCD panel 120. The displayedfolder and the jacket image are based on additional information storedin the HDD 106.

The user operates a pointing device of the input operation unit 102 onthe basis of a screen displayed on the LCD panel 120. Control of anoperation to select a piece of compressed musical data among thosestored in the HDD 106 and an operation to delete selected musical data,or copy or move selected musical data to another apparatus can also bebased on a screen displayed on the LCD panel 120. For example, the inputoperation unit 102 may include a touch panel. In this case, by touchingthe touch panel in accordance with a screen displayed on the LCD panel120, the user is capable of entering an operation input to the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70. In this way, the user is capable ofadministering compressed musical data stored in the HDD 106 as well ascontrolling processing such as operations to play back compressedmusical data stored in the HDD 106 and recording compressed musical datainto the HDD 106 by using the LCD panel 120 as an interface.

It should be noted that the portable recording and playback apparatus 70is driven by a battery, which is not shown in FIG. 5. That is why theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 is provided with a powersupply unit employing an ordinary secondary battery or a dry battery asa power supplying source, and is provided with an electrical chargingunit. With the mounting unit of the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 connected directly to the mounting unit of the music server50 or with the connection lines, the electrical charging unitelectrically charges the secondary battery employed in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 with electrical power received fromthe music server 50 during a transfer of musical data from the musicserver 50 to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70. It isneedless to say that the secondary battery employed in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 can also be electrically charged byan external electrical charging unit. It should be noted that, as thepower supply to serve as a power supplying source of the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70, only one of the dry cell and therechargeable secondary battery can also be used or provided.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another typical configuration of theportable recording and playback apparatus 70. It should be noted that,in the configuration shown in FIG. 6, members identical with thoseemployed in the configuration shown in FIG. 5 are denoted by the samereference numerals as the latter and detailed explanation of suchmembers is not repeated. The portable recording and playback apparatus70 shown in FIG. 6 is different from the configuration shown in FIG. 5in that, in the case of the former, a switch circuit 200 is providedbetween the HDD (or the flash memory) 106 a and the bus 130. One ofselect terminals 200 a of the switch circuit 200 is connected to the bus130 while another select terminal 200 b is connected to the interface35. The switch circuit 200 isolates the HDD 106 a from the bus 130.

When compressed musical data is received from the music server 50, theswitch circuit 200 is set at the select terminal 200 b, that is, theselect terminal 200 b is selected. With the select terminal 200 bselected, the HDD 106 a is directly connected to the bus 40 employed inthe music server 50 by the interface 35 and the interface 34. In thisconnection, the HDD 106 a appears to the CPU 8 employed in the musicserver 50 as if the HDD 106 a were a local recording medium in the musicserver 50. Thus, the CPU 8 employed in the music server 50 is capable ofcontrolling the HDD 106 a directly. As a result, compressed musical datacan be moved and transferred between the music server 50 and theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 with ease under the controlof the CPU 8.

Next, the operation of the information communication system having theconfiguration described above is explained. First of all, functionsexecuted by the music server 50 as a standalone apparatus are described.FIG. 7 shows a flowchart representing typical processing carried out bythe music server 50 to record musical data read out from the CD 55mounted on the CD-ROM drive 9 onto a hard disc of the HDD 10.

As shown in the figure, the flowchart begins with a step S10 at whichthe music server 50 enters a state of waiting for a request to be madeto record musical data read out from the CD 55 mounted on the CD-ROMdrive 9 onto a hard disc of the HDD 10. As the user makes such a requestby, for example, operating the input operation unit 1, the flow of theprocessing goes on to a step S11 to form a judgment as to whether theuser made a request for high-speed recording or one-time-speedrecording. Typically, when the user makes such a request at the stepS10, the user also specifies a recording technique. To be more specific,the user also specifies whether the request is a request for high-speedrecording or one-time-speed recording. The one-time-speed recording isan operation to read out musical data from the CD 55 and to record thedata into the hard disc of the HDD 10 at a standard speed prescribed forthe CD 55. On the other hand, the high-speed recording is an operationto read out musical data from the CD 55 and to record the data into thehard disc of the HDD 10 at a speed at least twice the standard speedprescribed for the CD 55.

If the outcome of the judgment formed at the step S11 indicates that thehigh-speed recording was specified, the flow of the processing goes onto a step S12 at which a charging system of the Internet server 60 orthe music server 50 is activated. The processing carried out by thecharging system of the Internet server 60 or the music server 50 will bedescribed in detail later. At any rate, a charging process for the musicserver 50 is carried out and, if the requested high-speed recording ofmusical data from the Internet server 60 or other sources is permitted,the flow of the processing goes on to a step S13 at which a high-speedcompression process is activated in the compression encoder 12. The flowof the processing then goes on to a step S15.

If the outcome of the judgment formed at the step S11 indicates that theone-time-speed recording was specified, on the other hand, the flow ofthe processing goes on to a step S14 at which a low-speed compressionprocess is activated in the compression encoder 12. The flow of theprocessing then goes on to the step S15.

At the step S15, the CD-ROM drive 9 is driven at a predetermined speedand musical data is read out from the CD 55 mounted on the CD-ROM drive9 in accordance with control executed by the CPU 8. The musical dataread out from the CD 55 is subjected to a compression-encoding processin the compression encoder 12 before being transferred to the HDD 10 tobe recorded on a hard disc thereof.

If the transfer of the musical data read out from the CD 55 to the HDD10 is found completed at a step S16, the flow of the processing goes onto a step S17 at which a transfer of data from the CD-ROM drive 9 to theHDD 10 is inhibited. At the next step S18, the compression processing atthe compression encoder 12 is halted.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show a flowchart representing typical charging processesof the charging system carried out at the step S12 of the flowchartshown in FIG. 7. The charging process is carried out when data iscommunicated between the music server 50 and the Internet server 60.FIG. 8A shows a flowchart representing a partial charging process of thecharging system for the music server 50 and FIG. 8B shows a flowchartrepresenting a partial charging process of the charging system for theInternet server 60.

As shown in FIG. 8A, the flowchart begins with a step S20 when thecharging process is started. At this step, communication is establishedby adopting a predetermined protocol between the music server 50 and theInternet server 60. The flow of the process then goes on to a step S21to form a judgment as to whether a connection has been establishedbetween the music server 50 and the Internet server 60 andcommunications are possible between the music server 50 and the Internetserver 60. If a connection has been established to allow communications,the flow of the process goes on to a step S22.

At the step S22, the TOC information of the CD 55 mounted on the CD-ROMdrive 9 of the music server 50 with the user ID corresponding to themusic server 50 is output to the Internet server 60. The CD 55 is a CD,from which data is to be transferred from the 10 CD-ROM drive 9 of themusic server 50 and to be recorded onto the hard disc of the HDD 10. Themusic server 50 also transmits high-speed-recording informationindicating that high-speed recording is to be carried out to theInternet server 60 along with the TOC information.

On the other hand, the flowchart shown in FIG. 8B begins with a step S30at which the Internet server 60 enters a state of waiting for the userID, the high-speed-recording information and the TOC information toarrive from the music server 50. As the Internet server 60 receives theuser ID, the high-speed-recording information and the TOC information,the flow of the process goes on to a step S31 at which the Internetserver 60 searches the data base thereof for information indicated bythe TOC information. The information indicated by the TOC informationmay also be acquired from an external data base. The informationindicated by the TOC information is used for identifying the CD 55.

At the next step S32, a charging process is carried out. To put it indetail, a recording fee is computed from information such as the numberof pieces of music to undergo the high-speed recording. The fee can thenbe drawn from a bank account specified by the user using the user'scredit-card number corresponding to the user ID cataloged in advance.The fee charging method is not limited to such a technique. Anothertechnique to charge a recording fee to the user, where the chargingprocess is performed on the music server 50 side, is conceivable. Forexample, the music server 50 may be provided with a function to read aprepaid card. In this case, the computed recording fee is transmitted tothe music server 50, which draws the fee from the prepaid card. Therecording fee may also be charged depending on contents of the CD 55under the control of the Internet server 60, which can be identifiedfrom the TOC information. It is also possible to prohibit an operationto record musical data read out from the CD 55 onto the hard disc of theHDD 10.

At the next step S33, the charging information is transmitted to themusic server 50. Then, the charging process continues to a step S23 ofthe flowchart shown in FIG. 8A at which the music server 50 checks thesubstance of the charging information received from the Internet server60. In the mean time, at a step S34 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 8B,the Internet server 60 verifies whether or not the charging informationwas received by the music server 50 as follows. Typically, after themusic server 50 confirms that the charging information received from theInternet server 60 was correctly received with no errors, the musicserver 50 transmits data indicating the confirmation to the Internetserver 60.

If the music server 50 confirms reception of the charging information atthe step S23 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 8A, the flow of the processgoes on to a step S24 at which the charging information and other dataare displayed on the display unit 53. At the next step S25, musical datais read out by the CD-ROM driver 9 from the CD 55 at a high speed andthen subjected to a compression process in the compression encoder 12also at a high compression speed. The compressed musical data output bythe compression encoder 12 is then supplied to the HDD 10 to be storedonto the hard disc of the HDD 10. The step S25 corresponds to the stepS15 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 7.

By the way, in this embodiment, a coordinated operation between themusic server 50 and the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 ispossible. When musical data is moved from the music server 50 to theportable recording and playback apparatus 70, for example, a coordinatedoperation is carried out between two devices. FIG. 9 shows a flowchartrepresenting this move operation.

As shown in the figure, the flowchart begins with a step S40 to form ajudgment with the CPU 8 as to whether or not the music server 50 and theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 are connected to each otherby the interfaces 34 and 35. The connection between the music server 50and the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 can be detected by,for example, CPU8 exchanging a predetermined signal between theinterfaces 34 and 35. In addition to an exchange of a signal between theinterfaces 34 and 35 by the CPU 8, a switch mechanism is provided on thejunction between the music server 50 and the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 to serve as a mechanical detection mechanism forCPU 8 detecting connection between the music server 50 and the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70.

If the connection between the music server 50 and the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70 is verified at the step S40, the flow of theprocessing goes on to a step S41 to form a judgment with the CPU 8 as towhether or not there is a request for an operation to move musical datastored or recorded in the HDD 10 to the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70. Typically, a list of pieces of information such as mainlytitles of pieces of musical data stored in the HDD 10 is displayed onthe display unit 53. The user is allowed to make a request for anoperation to move musical data stored or recorded in the HDD 10 to theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 by specifying the title ofa specific piece of musical data among those on the list appearing onthe display unit 53. A title can be specified by the user by, forexample, operating a pointing device on the input operation unit 1. Therequest for an operation to move the specific musical data stored orrecorded in the HDD 10 to the portable recording and playback apparatus70 is then entered by the user via the input operation unit 1.

There are conceivable techniques of entering a request for an operationto move compressed musical data stored or recorded in the HDD 10 to theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 via the input operationunit 1. In accordance with one of the techniques, a button for making arequest for an operation to move compressed musical data stored orrecorded in the HDD 10 to the portable recording and playback apparatus70 is displayed on the display unit 53, and the user specifies thisbutton by using the pointing device of the input operation unit 1. Inaccordance with another technique, an icon is displayed on the displayunit 53 for each piece of compressed musical data and the user moves theicon of a piece of compressed musical data to be transferred to an iconof the move destination, the portable recording and playback apparatus70, also displayed on the display unit 53 in the so-called drag and dropoperation. In this case, the destination of the move operation is theportable recording and playback apparatus 70. Of course, a request foran operation to move compressed musical data stored or recorded in theHDD 10 to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 can also bemade by operating an operation switch provided on the input operationunit 1. CPU 8 makes the judgment by detecting the input operationmentioned above whether or not the request for movement is made.

If the outcome of the judgment formed at the step S41 indicates that arequest for an operation to move compressed musical data stored orrecorded in the HDD 10 to the portable recording and playback apparatus70 was made, the flow of the processing goes on to a step S42 at whichtypically the CPU 8 employed in the music server 50 examines the filesize of the compressed musical data to be moved, that is, the amount ofdata. At the next step S43, the CPU 105 employed in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 which can communicate with the CPU 8examines the size of a free area in the HDD 106 and, typically, the CPU8 employed in the music server 50 compares the size of the free sizewith the file size of the compressed musical data to be moved examinedat the step S42. The CPU 8 forms a judgment as to whether or not thecompressed musical data to be moved can be recorded into the free areain the HDD 106 at the step 43. The formation of the judgment is based onthe result of the comparison carried out at the step S43. If the outcomeof the judgment indicates that the compressed musical data to be movedcan be recorded into the free area in the HDD 106, the flow of theprocessing goes on to a step S45 at which the operation to move thecompressed musical from the music server 50 to the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70 is started.

If the outcome of the judgment formed with the CPU 8 at the step S43indicates that the size of the free area in the HDD 106 employed by theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 is not sufficient, on theother hand, the flow of the processing goes on to a step S44. At thestep S44, the CPU 105 employed in the apparatus 70 deletes somecompressed musical data already recorded in the HDD 106 automatically orin accordance with a procedure or a technique described later so thatthe compressed musical data to be moved can be recorded into the HDD106. The flow of the processing then goes on to the step S45.

At the step S44, compressed musical data is deleted from the HDD 106automatically under control executed by the CPU 105 on the basis of apredetermined parameter of compressed musical data already recorded inthe HDD 106. For example, in the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70, the number of playback-operation executions is counted foreach piece of compressed musical data recorded in the HDD 106. Pieces ofcompressed musical data may then be deleted from the HDD 106 startingwith one having a smallest number of playback-operation executions.Pieces of compressed musical data may also be deleted from the HDD 106starting with that having a least recent recording date where arecording date is a date on which a piece of compressed musical data isrecorded into the HDD 106.

When pieces of compressed musical data are deleted from the HDD 106automatically at the step S44, it is quite within the bounds ofpossibility that a piece of compressed musical data of importance to theuser is erased from the HDD 106. In order to prevent a piece ofcompressed musical data of importance to the user from being erased, awarning message is displayed on the display unit 53 employed in themusic server 50 or the LCD panel 120 of the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70. The warning message may notify the user that anoperation to delete a piece of compressed musical data automaticallyfrom the HDD 106 will be carried out or may be a list of pieces ofcompressed musical data to be deleted. In this case, a piece ofcompressed musical data will be deleted only if the deletion is approvedby the user. As another alternative, the user selects a piece ofcompressed musical data from those on a list displayed on the displayunit 53 employed in the music server 50 or the LCD panel 120 of theportable recording and playback apparatus 70.

When the flow of the processing departs from the step S43 or S44, apiece of compressed musical data to be moved from the HDD 10 employed inthe music server 50 to the HDD 106 can be recorded into the HDD 106. Atthe next step S45, the transmission or the transfer of the compressedmusical data from the music server 50 to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 is started. That is to say, the compressed musicaldata read out from the HDD 10 is supplied to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 by way of the bus 40 and the interface 34. In theportable recording and playback apparatus 70, the compressed musicaldata received from the music server 50 through the interface 34 isrecorded into the HDD 106 by way of the interface 35.

The compressed musical data transferred to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 remains also in the HDD 10 employed in the musicserver 50 as it was before the transfer. In this embodiment, however, anoperation to play back compressed musical data remaining in the HDD 10but already transferred or moved to the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 is prohibited at the step S46. Typically, a playbackinhibit flag is set upon completion of the transfer of the compressedmusical data to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 toindicate that an operation to play back the compressed musical data fromthe HDD 10 is prohibited. That is to say, the playback inhibit flagprevents the CPU 8 employed in the music server 50 from playing back thecompressed musical data remaining in the HDD 10 but already transferredor moved to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70. Theplayback inhibit flag also indicates that the compressed musical datarecorded in the HDD 10 has virtually migrated from the music server 50to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70. Thus, even if aplurality of same pieces of compressed musical data exist in both themusic server 50 and the portable recording and playback apparatus 70,only one of them can be played back. As a result, an operation toillegally copy musical data is prohibited.

The flow of the processing then goes on to a step S47 to form a judgmentas to whether or not a request to move a next piece of musical data tothe portable recording and playback apparatus 70 is made. If a requestto move a next piece of musical data to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 is made, the flow of the processing goes back tothe step S42. If no request to move a next piece of musical data to theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 is made, on the other hand,the processing to move a series of pieces of musical data is completed.

As described above, at the steps S42 to S46 of the flowchart shown inFIG. 9, only one of a plurality of pieces of compressed musical datastored in the HDD 10 is moved from the music server 50 to the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70. It should be noted, however, thatthe way to move compressed musical data is not limited to what isdescribed above. For example, a plurality of pieces of compressedmusical data stored in the HDD 10 can also be moved from the musicserver 50 to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70simultaneously at the same time in a batch operation.

In the embodiment described above, the compressed musical dataphysically left in the HDD 10 of the music server 50 serving as the movesource but virtually moved to the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 is merely put in a playback inhibit status at the step S46.It should be noted, however, that, the way to handle compressed musicaldata moved to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 is notlimited to what is described above. For example, the compressed musicaldata moved to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 can bedeleted from the HDD 10. That is to say, the compressed musical dataitself can be physically erased from the HDD 10.

In the embodiment described above, compressed musical data is moved fromthe music server 50 to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70.It is worth noting, however, that compressed musical data can also bemoved in the opposite direction by carrying out processing similar tothe processing represented by the flowchart shown in FIG. 9. That is tosay, compressed musical data recorded in the HDD 106 of the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 can be moved to the HDD 10 employedin the music server 50.

When a piece of compressed musical data moved from the music server 50to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 is moved back fromthe portable recording and playback apparatus 70 to the music server 50,the playback inhibit flag of the piece of compressed musical data in theHDD 10 employed in the music server 50 is reset. By resetting theplayback inhibit flag, the piece of compressed musical data, which wasthe source of the original move, can again be played back in the musicserver 50. The compressed musical data, which was present in the HDD 106employed in the apparatus 70 but moved back to the music server 50, isdeleted from the HDD 106. As an alternative, instead of deleting thecompressed musical data itself, the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 may also delete management information of the compressedmusical data from a management table.

With this embodiment, the user is capable of creating a list ofprograms. A list of programs is a list of pieces of music properlyselected from those recorded in the HDD 10 employed in the music server50. The music server 50 displays an edit screen on the display unit 53.The edit screen is used for creating and editing a list of programs.That is to say, the user is capable of editing an existing list ofprograms and creating a new list of programs by using the edit screen.The user is capable of controlling pieces of musical data recorded inthe HDD 10 of the music server 50 by using a list of programs. A list ofprograms created in this way is stored in predetermined memory meanssuch as the HDD 10. The music server 50 may have a plurality of programlists.

The user is capable of selecting a plurality of favorite pieces ofmusical data recorded in the HDD 10 of the music server 50 as acollection on a list of programs and playing back the favorite pieces ofmusical data for enjoyment like a CD album. In addition, a plurality ofpieces of musical data put on a list of programs can be moved from themusic server 50 to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 in abatch operation.

The present invention also provides dedicated edit means for editing alist of programs used when moving a plurality of pieces of musical datain a batch operation. The following description explains a list ofprograms for use in a batch operation to move musical data andprocessing to create and edit such a list of programs.

It should be noted that, in the following description, a list of piecesof musical data stored in the HDD 10 of the music server 50 is referredto as a stock list, and a list of pieces of musical data to betransferred from the music server 50 to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 is known as a transfer list. The stock list andthe transfer list are each a kind of program list described above.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a typical edit screen for editing atransfer list. On the edit screen, a transfer list and a stock list aredisplayed as examples. To be more specific, a transfer-list edit screen310 appears on the display unit 53 as shown in FIG. 10. The edit screen310 includes list areas 300 and 301, which are each displayed as awindow. In the list area 300, a stock list is displayed. The stock listis a list of pieces of musical data stored in the music server 50. Inthe list area 301, on the other hand, a transfer list to be edited isdisplayed. The transfer list is a list of pieces of musical data to bemoved from the music server 50 to the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70. What are actually put on the transfer and stock lists aretitles of musical data.

Tri-angular buttons 302 and 303 oriented in directions opposite to eachother are buttons for editing the transfer list displayed in the listarea 301. To be more specific, the button 302 is used for adding a pieceof musical data selected among those on the stock list displayed in thelist area 300 to the transfer list appearing in the list area 301. Onthe other hand, the button 303 is used for deleting a piece of musicaldata selected among those on the transfer list displayed in the listarea 301 from the transfer list.

As described above, the music server 50 may have a plurality of programlists corresponding to the each part of the apparatus 70. Thus, aplurality of transfer lists may exist. The edit screen 310 shown in FIG.10 displays 3 transfer lists as an example. In this case, tabs 304A,304B and 304C are displayed on the top of the list area 301 for the 3transfer lists respectively. In the list area 301, a transfer list of aselected tab 304A, 304B or 304C is displayed. It is nice to display anID of the apparatus 70 to be described later at a predetermined positionin the list area 301. It should be noted that such an ID is not shown inthe figure.

A variety of operations can be carried out on the input operation unit 1shown in FIG. 2 for the edit screen 310. The display unit 53 willdisplay information corresponding to an operation carried out on theinput operation unit 1 on the edit screen 310. While looking at the editscreen 310 on the display unit 53, the user typically operates a varietyof switches such as dial-type and push-type operation keys provided inthe input operation unit 1 to specify a location on the edit screen 310and to enter a command. Signals representing a variety of operationscarried out on the input operation unit 1 are supplied to the CPU 8 byway of the bus 40.

As described above, the input operation unit 1 is directly provided onthe server main body 51 shown in FIG. 2. It should be noted, however,that the information communication system is not limited to such aconfiguration. For example, an external operation unit 1′ can beprovided by connecting it to the server main body 51 by a wire as is thecase with an embodiment shown in FIG. 11. To put it in detail, the inputoperation unit 1′ is connected to the bus 40 of the server main body 51either directly or indirectly through a predetermined interface. Theinput operation unit 1′ includes a variety of operators for editing atransfer list displayed on the edit screen 310 and a transfer button formaking a request for a transfer of pieces of musical data put on atransfer list from the music server 50 to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70.

In addition, in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the severmain body 51 has a mounting unit 311 for mounting the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70. On the mounting unit 311, an interface 34 isprovided. By mounting the portable recording and playback apparatus 70on the mounting unit 311, the interface 35 employed in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 is electrically connected to theinterface 34 so that communication can be established between theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 and the music server 50.Thereby, musical data can be transferred from the music server 50 to theportable recording and playback apparatus 70.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams conceptually showing a typical managementmethod for controlling a list of programs. Program lists are stored in aprogram file. A program file is typically stored in a predetermined areaof the HDD 10 employed in the music server 50. The area is used forstoring all program lists of the music server 50. A program fileconceptually has a structure shown in FIG. 12A. As shown in the figure,program lists in a program file are distinguished from each other byassigning an ID to each of the program lists.

On the other hand, the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 alsohas a unique ID for distinguishing the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 individually from others. In the embodiment shown in FIG.5, for example, this ID is stored in the ROM 104 in advance. Eachprogram-list ID in the program file stored in the music server 50 istypically associated with the ID of a portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 so that it is possible to create a list of programsapplicable only to a specific portable recording and playback apparatus70. In this case, the ID of a program list is the same as the IDassigned to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 associatedwith the program list.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, a program-list ID of 300 is assignedto a list of programs associated with a certain portable recording andplayback apparatus 70. With such ID assignment, pieces of musical dataon the list of programs having the list ID of 300 can be moved only tothe portable recording and playback apparatus 70 with the same apparatusID as the list ID.

By the same token, by using another program-list ID such as an ID of301, it is possible to define a list of programs associated with aportable recording and playback apparatus 70 having the same apparatusID as the program-list ID. In this way, the music server 50 can beprovided with a plurality of program lists, which are each associatedwith a portable recording and playback apparatus 70 and can bedistinguished from each other by assigning an ID to each of the programlists.

In addition, an ID assigned to a list of programs can be used foridentifying the type of the program list.

In processing to edit a list of programs by using the screen edit 310,the list of programs to be edited is indicated by specifying an IDassigned to the list and the specified list is read out from the programfile. The list of programs read out from the program file is stored in apredetermined area of typically the RAM 5 along with the program-list IDas shown in FIG. 12B. The CPU 8 controls an operation to display piecesof musical data on the list of programs stored in the RAM 5 in the listarea 301 of the edit screen 310 as a transfer list. The user then editsthe transfer list displayed on the screen edit 310. To be more specific,for example, the user adds a piece of musical data to the transfer listor deletes one from the list. The list of programs stored in the RAM 5is updated in accordance with results of the editing operation.

Then, musical data is transferred from the music server 50 to theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 in accordance with theedited list of programs. Thus, the work to edit the list of programs tobe referred to in transferring musical data can be done without regardto whether or not the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 hasbeen mounted on or connected to the music server 50.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart representing typical processing to edit atransfer list and to transfer musical data cataloged on the editedtransfer list. As shown in the figure, the flowchart begins with a stepS50 at which the work to edit the transfer list is started. Typically,the input operation unit 1 has a list edit button to be operated torequest the music server 50 to carry out work to edit a transfer list.When this list edit button is pressed by the user, the HDD 10 issearched for a list management module.

Provided in a predetermined area at the beginning of the program file,the list management module is used for recording information on programlists. The CPU 8 reads out the information from the list managementmodule to acquire a predetermined address of transfer list data in theHDD 10. The transfer list stored at the acquired address is thenobtained by the CPU 8. Subsequently, display data based on the transferlist obtained by the CPU 8 is generated. The CPU 8 then supplies thedisplay data to the LCD panel 26 employed in the display unit 53 by wayof the LCD driver 25 to be displayed on the LCD panel 26.

In this way, the edit screen shown in FIG. 10 described above isdisplayed on the display unit 53 with the transfer list put in a stateof being editable. The ID of a portable recording and playback apparatus70 serving as a recipient of musical data to be transferred is entered.Such an ID is entered by specifying a desired one of the tabs 304A to304C of the edit screen 310 shown in FIG. 10. In an example describedbelow, a list of programs with an ID of 300 is selected.

At the next step S51, the program file stored in the HDD 10 is searchedfor a list of programs with an ID of 300 by the CPU 8. The flow of theprocessing then goes on to a step S52 to form a judgment as to whetheror not the program file includes such a list of programs. If the programfile does not include such a list of programs, the flow of theprocessing goes on to a step S53 at which a new list of programs with anID of 300 is created in the program file stored in the HDD 10. After thenew list of programs is created, the flow of the processing goes on to astep S54. If the program list includes such a list of programs, on theother hand, the flow of the processing goes on directly to the step S54.In this embodiment, when the program file does not include such a listof programs, a new list of programs is created in the program filestored in the HDD 10. However, it is also possible to adopt thefollowing construction such that if the program list corresponding tothe input ID of the apparatus 70 which can be transferred is created inadvance in the HDD 10 of the music server 50, when the program list isnot included in the program file as described above, transfer of thedata may be prohibited as the CPU 8 makes a judgment that the transferof the data to the apparatus 70 corresponding to the input ID is notpermitted.

At the step S54, the list of programs with an ID of 300 is opened. Toput it in more detail, the list of programs with an ID of 300 is readout with CPU 8 from the program file stored in the HDD 10 as shown inFIG. 12. The list of programs read out from the program file is storedinto the RAM 5 to be read out later by the CPU 8. After reading out thelist of programs, the CPU 8 controls an operation to display the editscreen 310 shown in FIG. 10 on the display unit 53, allowing the user toedit the transfer list.

Thus, in the list area 301 of the edit screen 310, the list of programsopened at the step S54 is displayed in the list area 301. If the list ofprograms was newly created, that is, if the list of programs contains nodata, the transfer list displayed in the list area 301 is empty. In thelist area 300, on the other hand, a table of pieces of musical datastored in the HDD 10 is displayed. As described earlier, this table isreferred to as a stock list. It should be noted that, instead ofdisplaying such a stock list, it is also possible to display a list ofonly pieces of musical data, which are obtained as a result of anoperation to search all pieces of musical data stored in the HDD 10 forones satisfying a predetermined condition.

As described above, the user appropriately operates the buttons 302 and303 to transfer musical data from the list area 300 to the list area 301and vice versa. In this way, pieces of musical data can be added to ordeleted from the transfer list displayed in the list area 301. Or theuser may select the musical data by using the mouse pointer and the likeand may make a request for the addition or deletion of the pieces ofmusical data by so-called drag and drop operation using the mousepointer between the list area 300 and the list area 301.

When the user finishes the work to edit the transfer list, the flow ofthe processing goes on to a step S56 to make a request for a transfer ofmusical data cataloged on the transfer list from the music server 50 tothe portable recording and playback apparatus 70. The input operationunit 1 includes typically a transfer button for requesting the musicserver 50 to transfer pieces of musical data put on a transfer list. Theuser presses the transfer button to make a request for the transfer ofthe pieces of musical data put on the transfer list.

The flow of the processing then goes on to a step S57 to form a judgmentas to whether or not the portable recording and playback apparatus 70has been really mounted on the music server 50. If the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 has not been mounted on the musicserver 50, the flow of the processing goes on to a step S58 at which awarning is output to indicate that the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 has not been mounted on the music server 50. The flow ofthe processing then goes back to the step S57 to repeat the pieces ofprocessing at the steps S57 and S58 till the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 is mounted. As the outcome of the judgment formedat the step S57 confirms that the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 has been mounted on the music server 50, the flow of theprocessing goes on to a step S59.

It should be noted that there are a variety of conceivable methods toform a judgment as to whether or not the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 has been really mounted on the music server 50. A typicalmethod is explained below. For example, the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 is provided with a micro switch serving ashardware detection means for detecting the fact that the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 is mounted on the music server 50.When the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 is mounted on themusic server 50, the detection means detects the fact that the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 is mounted on the music server 50,causing a predetermined pin of the interface 35 employed in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 such as the 3rd pin, for example, tobe set in an ‘H’ (high) state.

A pin of the interface 34 employed in the music server 50 serving as thecounterpart of the predetermined pin of the interface 35 is connected toan interrupt pin of the CPU 8. When the predetermined pin of theinterface 35 is set in an ‘H’ state, the CPU 8 is interrupted. Theinterrupt sets a predetermined bit of a register employed in the CPU 8in an ‘H’ state, too. At the step S57, the CPU 8 detects the bit valueof the register to form a judgment as to whether or not the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 has been really mounted on the musicserver 50. An ‘H’ state of the register bit indicates that the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 has been really mounted on the musicserver 50.

Refer back to the flowchart shown in FIG. 13. If the outcome of thejudgment formed at the step S57 indicates the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 has been really mounted on the music server 50,the flow of the processing goes on to a step S59. At the step S59, theID of the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 mounted on themusic server 50 is checked to form a judgment as to whether or not theID matches the ID of 300 input at the step S50 or the ID corresponds tothe list area 301. The ID checked at this step is typically read out bythe CPU 8 employed in the music server 50 from the ROM 104 of theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 through the interfaces 34and 35.

If the ID of the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 does notmatch the ID input at the step S50, the flow of the processing goes onto a step S58 to output a warning indicating that the ID of the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 does not match the ID input at thestep S50. If the ID of the portable recording and playback apparatus 70matches the ID input at the step S50, on the other hand, the flow of theprocessing goes on to a step S60.

At the step S60, musical data put on the transfer list edited at thestep S55 is moved from the music server 50 to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70. At that time, the transfer list showing the movedmusical data can also be transferred from the music server 50 to theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 along with the musicaldata.

As described above, a transfer list unique to each portable recordingand playback apparatus 70 can be created. A transfer of musical data tothe portable recording and playback apparatus 70 is based on thetransfer list unique to the portable recording and playback apparatus70. A transfer list is kept in the music server 50. It is not untildetection of the mounting of the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70 on the music server 50 that musical data put on thetransfer list is transferred to the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70. Thus, a transfer list can be edited even if the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 is not mounted on the music server50.

Let us consider a case in which musical data moved previously from themusic server 50 is still stored in the HDD 106 of the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70. As described above, in this embodiment,musical data moved from the music server 50 to the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70 is put in status of being irreproducible inthe music server 50 till the musical data is returned from the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 back to the music server 50.

Assume that musical data stored in the HDD 106 of the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70 is overwritten by musical data newly receivedfrom the music server 50, or musical data previously stored in the HDD106 of the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 is inadvertentlyerased in an operation to store musical data newly received from themusic server 50 into the portable recording and playback apparatus 70.In this case, the overwritten or erased musical data transferredoriginally from the music server 50 can no longer be played back in themusic server 50 and the portable recording and playback apparatus 70.

In a transfer of musical data put on a transfer list from the musicserver 50 to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70, the musicserver 50 acquires a list of musical data stored in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 and for example the CPU 8 comparesthis list with the transfer list. If the result of the comparisonindicates that a piece of musical data stored in the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70 is different from pieces of musical data onthe transfer list, the piece of musical data stored in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 is examined by the CPU 8 to find outwhether or not this piece of musical data stored in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 has been returned to the musicserver 50 by checking the playback inhibit flag of the data in theprogram file. If the piece of musical data stored in the portablerecording and playback apparatus 70 has not been returned to the musicserver 50, the CPU 8 issues a command to the portable recording andplayback apparatus 70 to return the piece of data from the HDD 106employed in the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 to the HDD10 of the music server 50. CPU 5 is controlled to transfer the data fromthe HDD 106 to the HDD 10 in accordance with the request from the CPU 8.For example, under the control of the CPU 5, the management data of thedata in question of the HDD 106 is deleted and at the same time, thedata itself is stored by releasing, with CPU 8, the playback inhibitflag of the data.

It should be noted that, if there is a piece of musical data common toboth the list in the portable recording and playback apparatus 70 andthe transfer list in the music server 50, the transfer of the commonpiece of musical data can be omitted so that the time it takes to carryout the processing becomes shorter.

The CPU 8 of the music server 50 is capable of obtaining the list in theportable recording and playback apparatus 70 by issuing an instructionto the CPU 105 employed in the portable recording and playback apparatus70 by way of the interfaces 34 and 35 to request the portable recordingand playback apparatus 70 to transmit the list. In accordance with thisinstruction, the CPU 105 creates a list of musical data stored in theHDD 106 and supplies the created list to the CPU 8 of the music server50 by way of the interfaces 34 and 35. Instead of comparison of thetransfer list with the list in the portable recording and playbackapparatus 70, a created transfer list is saved by the music server 50and, when a new transfer list is created, the newly created transferlist is compared with the saved transfer list.

As described above, the portable recording and playback apparatus 70serves as a destination of a transfer of musical data from the musicserver 50. It should be noted that the transfer destination is notlimited to the portable recording and playback apparatus 70. Forexample, an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc having a diameter ofabout 64 mm can also be used as a transfer destination. Typically, themusic server 50 is provided with a drive unit capable of recordingand/or playing back data into and/or from an optical disc or amagneto-optical disc with a diameter of about 64 mm, which serves as atransfer destination. Pieces of musical data to be transferred to theoptical disc or the magneto-optical disc with a diameter of about 64 mmcan be selected in advance even if the optical disc or themagneto-optical disc with a diameter of about 64 mm has not been mountedon the drive unit yet. If an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc witha diameter of about 64 mm is used as a transfer destination, the IDchecking described above can be omitted.

In the above description, the ATRAC method is adopted as acompression-encoding technique for carrying out a compression-encodingprocess on musical data recorded onto the HDD 10, the HDD 106 or the HDD106 a. It should be noted, however, that the compression-encodingtechnique is not limited to the ATRAC method. For example, acompression-encoding technique known as MPEG Audio Layer III (MovingPicture Experts Group Audio Layer III) or simply as MP3 can also beapplied to the present invention.

As described above, in accordance with the present invention, there isexhibited an effect of an ability to transfer musical data cataloged ona transfer list from a music server to a portable recording and playbackapparatus in a batch operation.

Moreover, the transfer list is kept in the music server and, it is notuntil detection of mounting of the portable recording and playbackapparatus on the music server that the musical data cataloged on atransfer list is transferred from the music server to the portablerecording and playback apparatus. For this reason, there is alsoexhibited an effect of an ability to edit the transfer list even if theportable recording and playback apparatus is not mounted on the musicalserver.

In addition, since the transfer list is edited by using an edit screen,there is also exhibited an effect of elimination of confusion due to thefact that the present list editing purpose is no longer known.

Furthermore, since a program list used in moving musical data from themusic server to the portable recording and playback apparatus must be atransfer list, there is also exhibited an effect of, for example,prevention of a program list created for organizing pieces of music datastored in the music server from being used inadvertently in transferringpieces of musical data in a batch operation due to carelessness.

1. A communication system including a first apparatus having a firststorage medium, and a second apparatus configured to transmit data tosaid first apparatus, said second apparatus comprising: a second storagemedium configured to store management information of audio data to betransferred to said first storage medium; a communication unitconfigured to communicate audio data with said first apparatus; acomparison unit configured to compare management information of audiodata stored in said first storage medium with management informationstored in said second storage medium of said audio data stored in saidfirst storage medium; and a control unit configured to control transferof audio data stored in said second storage medium to said first storagemedium by way of said communication unit based on said managementinformation, wherein said first apparatus is portable and comprises areproducing unit configured to reproduce audio data stored in said firststorage medium, and said control unit controls transfer of said audiodata from said second apparatus to said first apparatus based on acomparison result by said comparison unit.
 2. The communication systemaccording to claim 1, further comprising: an edit unit configured toedit said management information.
 3. The communication system accordingto claim 2, wherein said edit unit is capable of editing said managementinformation and said control unit controls to store said managementinformation edited by said edit unit to said second storage medium evenwhen communication is not established between said first apparatus andsaid second apparatus, wherein said second storage medium isnon-volatile.
 4. The communication system according to claim 1, whereinsaid second apparatus further comprises: a display configured to providea first window for displaying audio data identification informationbased on said management information of said audio data to betransferred to said first storage medium, and a second window fordisplaying audio data identification information based on managementinformation of said audio data stored in said second storage medium. 5.The communication system according to claim 4, wherein said secondapparatus further comprises: an instruction unit configured to selectsaid audio data stored in said second storage medium and assigningidentification information indicating said first apparatus to saidselected audio data, and wherein said edit unit edits said selectedaudio data based on said assigned identification information.
 6. Thecommunication system according to claim 5, wherein said first windowcorresponds to said identification information indicating said firstapparatus; said instruction unit assigns said identification informationto said selected audio data by making an instruction to transfer saidselected audio data to said first window; and said edit unit controlssaid second storage medium so that said second storage medium storessaid identification information assigned to said selected audio data,said identification information being displayed on said first window. 7.The communication system according to claim 6, wherein said secondapparatus further comprises: a memory configured to store audio datatemporarily; wherein said edit unit controls said memory unit so thatsaid memory stores said selected audio data and said identificationinformation assigned to said selected audio data based on saidinstruction by said instruction unit.
 8. The communication systemaccording to claim 6, wherein said display displays said identificationinformation assigned to said selected audio data on said first windowbased on said instruction by said instruction unit.
 9. The communicationsystem according to claim 1, wherein said control unit controls saidsecond apparatus so that said second apparatus receives identificationof said first apparatus by way of said communication unit; and saidcontrol unit controls transfer of said audio stored in said secondstorage medium to said first storage medium by way of said communicationunit based on said identification information received by said secondapparatus.
 10. The communication system according to claim 9, whereinsaid second storage medium stores identification information of aplurality of apparatuses; and when said identification information ofsaid plurality of apparatuses stored in said second storage mediumcontains identification information received from said first storagemedium, said control unit permits transmission of said audio data storedin said second storage medium to said first storage medium.
 11. Thecommunication system according to claim 1, wherein said second apparatusfurther comprises: a transmission instructing unit configured to give atransmission instruction to said control unit so that said control unitcontrols transfer of said audio data stored in said second storagemedium to said first storage medium by way of said communication meansbased on said management information.
 12. The communication systemaccording to claim 10, wherein said second apparatus further comprises:a judging unit configured to make a judgment whether said firstapparatus is mounted; and wherein when said control unit receives atransmission instruction by said transmission instructing unit and it isjudged by said judging unit that said first apparatus is mounted, saidcontrol means controls transfer of said audio data stored in said secondstorage medium to said first storage medium by way of said communicationunit on said management information.
 13. A communication apparatusconfigured to transmit audio data to another apparatus having a firststorage medium comprising: a second storage medium configured to storemanagement information of audio data stored in said first storagemedium; a communication unit configured to communicate audio data withsaid other apparatus; a comparison unit configured to compare managementinformation of audio data stored in said first storage medium with saidmanagement information stored in said second storage medium of saidaudio data stored in said first storage medium; and a control unitconfigured to control transfer of audio data stored in said secondstorage medium to said first storage medium by way of said communicationunit based on said management information, wherein said control unitcontrols transfer of said audio data from said communication apparatusto said another apparatus based on a comparison result by saidcomparison unit.
 14. The communication apparatus according to claim 13,further comprising: an edit unit configured to edit said managementinformation.
 15. The communication apparatus according to claim 14,wherein said edit unit is capable of editing said management informationand said control unit controls to store said management informationedited by said edit unit to said second storage medium even whencommunication is not established between said first apparatus and saidother apparatus, wherein said second storage medium is non-volatile. 16.The communication apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising: adisplay configured to provide a first window for displaying audio dataidentification information based on management information of audio datato be transferred to said first storage medium, and a second window fordisplaying audio data identification information based on managementinformation of audio data stored in said second storage medium.
 17. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising: aninstruction unit configured to select said audio data stored in saidsecond storage medium and assigning identification informationindicating said other apparatus to said selected audio data; whereinsaid edit unit edits said selected audio data based on said assignedidentification information.
 18. The communication apparatus according toclaim 17, wherein said first window corresponds to said identificationinformation indicating said other apparatus; said instruction unitassigns said identification information to said selected audio data bymaking an instruction to transfer said selected audio data to said firstwindow; and said edit unit controls said second storage medium so thatsaid second storage medium stores said identification informationassigned to said selected audio data, said identification informationbeing displayed on said first window.
 19. The communication apparatusaccording to claim 18, further comprising: a memory configured to storeaudio data temporarily; wherein said edit unit controls said memory sothat said memory stores said selected audio data and said identificationinformation assigned to said selected audio data based on saidinstruction by said instruction unit.
 20. The communication apparatusaccording to claim 19, wherein said display displays said identificationinformation assigned to said selected audio data on said first windowbased on said instruction by said instruction unit.
 21. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said control unitcontrols said communication apparatus so that said communicationapparatus receives identification information of said other apparatus byway of said communication unit; and said control unit controls transferof said audio data stored in said second storage medium to said otherstorage medium by way of said communication means based on saididentification information received by said communication apparatus. 22.The communication apparatus according to claim 21, wherein said secondstorage medium stores identification information of a plurality ofapparatuses; and when said identification information of said pluralityof apparatuses stored in said second storage medium containsidentification information received from said first storage medium, saidcontrol means permits transmission of said audio data stored in saidsecond storage medium to said first storage medium.
 23. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising: atransmission instructing unit configured to give a transmissioninstruction to said control unit so that said control unit controlstransfer of said audio data stored in said second storage medium to saidfirst storage medium by way of said communication means based on saidmanagement information.
 24. The communication apparatus according toclaim 23, further comprising: a judging unit configured to make ajudgment whether said other apparatus is mounted; wherein when saidcontrol unit receives a transmission instruction by said transmissioninstructing unit and it is judged by said judging unit that said otherapparatus is mounted, said control unit controls transfer of said audiodata stored in said second storage medium to said first storage mediumby way of said communication means based on said management information.25. A communication method configured to communicate a first apparatushaving a first storage medium to a second apparatus for transmittingaudio data to said first apparatus, said method comprising: comparingmanagement information of audio data stored in said first storage mediumwith management information stored in said second storage medium of saidaudio data stored in said first storage medium; transmitting, whencommunication is established between said first apparatus and saidsecond apparatus, audio data stored in said second storage medium tosaid first storage medium based on said edited management information;and controlling transfer of audio data stored in said second storagemedium to said first storage medium by way of said communication unitbased on said management information, wherein said controlling stepcontrols transfer of said audio data from said second apparatus to saidfirst apparatus based on a comparison result by said comparing step.